A tasty twist on haggis by Masterchef winner and Scottish butcher

An exciting twist on Scotland’s national dish has been prepared for Burns Night.

Scottish butcher Simon Howie has partnered with Scotland’s new national chef, Gary Maclean, to create something special with haggis.
Gary is a huge haggis fan and his show-stopping haggis dish took him through to the finals on MasterChef: The Professionals.

Working with Simon Howie, the duo have come up with three exciting recipes to re-invent the Scottish staple, including crispy fried haggis, haggis burgers and haggis Yorkshire puddings.

Simon Howie (right) with Scotland’s new national chef, Gary Maclean

Maclean’s Crispy Fried Haggis, first seen on MasterChef: The Professionals, turns the classic texture of haggis on its head, shallow frying Simon Howie haggis wrapped in a light filo pastry and combining it with a red onion chutney, mashed potatoes and roasted turnip.
Simon Howie haggis burgers have been created as a guaranteed crowd pleaser, with haggis added to beef mince to create perfectly seasoned burgers, served with hand cut chips and celeriac and whole grain mustard slaw.

Haggis sales south of the border have grown significantly in recent years and Simon Howie now sells almost half of its haggis (48% in 2017) in the rest of the UK, outside of Scotland. The third recipe fuses two Scottish and English culinary staples together, filling Yorkshire puddings with Simon Howie haggis and serving with a pea puree and onion gravy.

Gary Maclean’s Crispy Fried Haggis

Simon Howie haggis is a firm family favourite, with their 454g Original haggis outselling the nearest competitor by 2:1 during Burns, and their family-sized Chieftain haggis, vegetarian and gluten free haggis all rank as number one in their respective categories.

Sales figures in 2017 show that almost 1.5m people across the UK enjoyed Simon Howie haggis for Burns Night celebrations.

Simon said: ‘Haggis is such an iconic dish here in Scotland and is growing in popularity south of the border too, in fact almost half of our haggis sales are outside Scotland.

Tasty haggis burgers

‘We know families up and down the country will be celebrating Robert Burns’ birthday with haggis on or around 25 January, and we wanted to offer some new ideas on how to enjoy our national dish beyond the well-loved classic of haggis, neeps and tatties.

‘And who could be better than Scotland’s very own national chef to come up with some inspiring new ideas for our national dish? We hope people have fun creating and sharing the dishes. We think Rabbie would approve!’

Gary added: ‘I absolutely love haggis. I’ve really enjoyed working with Simon Howie to create a few twists on our national dish.

Gary’s Yorkshire pudding stuffed with haggis

‘I have to say, I’m pretty excited about my Yorkshire pudding stuffed with haggis for something totally different plus a haggis burger recipe, sure to be such a crowd pleaser. I’ve also included what has really become a signature dish for me, and the one that got me through to the finals of MasterChef: The Professionals, my crispy fried haggis.’

Simon Howie will be hosting a Burns Tour in select Tesco and Morrisons’ Scottish stores, so shoppers can taste for themselves why Simon Howie Original haggis is the most popular choice for Burns Night.

Simon Howie was set up in 1986 by Simon Howie, who grew up on the family farm. Simon Howie products are distributed throughout supermarkets across the UK including Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Co-op. The Scottish butcher has award-winning shops in both Auchterarder and Perth.